We pray 2009 will be a year of great blessing as you follow the Him who was, and is, and is to come. We are so grateful for your prayers and support which have kept us strong in His service here. We have entered our eleventh, and last, year of life and ministry here in Almaty. We have some big news to share about our future plans.
We have been quite busy with ministry and family during this holiday season. Our son Josiah arrived just before Christmas and it has been great having him here. His daughter, Maylee, is really having fun with Papa. He is looking for work here. This month he turns 23, and Maylee will be 5. We are grateful for your prayers for them.
Merry Christmas! TODAY, January 7, is the public holiday of Christmas in Kazakhstan. This reflects the strong influence of the Russian Orthodox Church which follows the Julian calendar. Advent is wonderful in any church, and especially so here at our International Christian Fellowship. Our mix of nations, traditions, and denominations makes it very special to appreciate how Jesus truly is the “Desire of All Nations” (Haggai 2:7 NKJV). Amidst our differences we find a deep oneness in Him. And as a church planted in a nation where so few truly know Him, it is a special joy to declare Him. When we walked into the lobby of the Intercontinental Hotel on the last day of November we found the staff frantically hanging beautiful decorations because the government threatened to fine any business that did not have Christmas displays by December 1! Lights, songs, trees, decorations, and carols – the only thing missing is knowing why He came. The Turkish GM of the Intercontinental asked us to bring a choral group from our church to sing carols for their tree lighting ceremony. Imagine standing with forty of your friends from church singing the praises of Him who is “God of God, Light of Light” to a group of smiling and eager Muslims, atheists, and hedonists. The same GM, his entire family, and many from Almaty joined us on Christmas Eve. Clearly the babe from Bethlehem has far exceeded His fifteen minutes of fame.
Praising Him
New Year’s is the most important day of the year for the people of Kazakhstan- several days of fireworks, new clothes, lots of food and alcohol, exchanging gifts (typically candy and alcohol) and family and friends. Most here call their festive tree a New Year’s Tree and the guy we Westerners know in the Red suit is often clad in Blue here – “Grandfather Ice.” Here is Maylee at her Kindergarten’s New Year’s program with the man in blue and classmates.
It is painful to think that the dark hole of New Year’s is the most exciting day of the year for most here. Some go into debt for the feast. It is ‘good luck’ – if you eat well on the first day of the year, you will have a prosperous year. But for many once their platters are wiped clean, their bottles of alcohol drained, and their fireworks fizzled, they’re left with the same fears, economic uncertainties, and empty hopes. As we look into the dark tunnel of a new year, we have no idea whether we will come out the other end alive. But we know Someone who does. Not only is He all knowing, He is ever-present, and abounding in mercy and grace. It is only in His light that tomorrow has any hope. And because of His promises we have every hope – for an eternity of tomorrows. How we long for the people of Central Asia, indeed the world, to know Jesus.
Preaching Him
In the last several weeks Mark has had opportunity to teach local pastors here in Kazakhstan. In early December he spent three days with a group of young leaders, looking at the main sermons in the book of Acts and drawing out their implications for mission. Four years ago, he spent a week with the same group teaching the book of Ephesians. How good it was to see them again and hear the testimonies of God’s faithfulness in their lives and ministries. What a joy to see the Lord raising up godly and faithful leaders for His Church here.
A couple weeks ago Mark had a day-long seminar with the 16 men and women who preach and teach at the First Presbyterian Church of Almaty (founded 1990). It was great to see how their faithful pastor is doing his best to equip and release these ones into ministry. The day’s topic was preaching and much of the day was spent listening to, and evaluating, their sermons. The best part was to witness their teachable spirits and how eager they were to build one another up in their calling. Understandably, some needed more ‘exhortation’ than others, but it was great to hear them faithfully speaking His Word.
Plans from Him
Our news is that we have received a call to move. Last October when we were in Beijing for things we wrote about in our last letter, we worshipped at the Beijing International Christian Fellowship on our two Sundays in the city. We were quite surprised when their pastor and elders approached us to come and serve there. BICF has several thousand members in three different congregations and a number of smaller groups organized by language. Specifically, we have been asked to pastor the congregation on the west side of the city. (More details below or at http://english.zgc.bicf.org/home.cfm ) We spent the month of November back here in Almaty praying and thinking about this call. Their elders spent the month “checking us out” a bit more, references, sermons, etc. And last month they extended a call to come in early June 2009. We made our decision to accept very recently.
We feel no “push” out of Almaty. It has been a great privilege for us to invest in hundreds of pastors and church leaders throughout Central Asia, several hundred MK’s in Tien Shan School, and the many who have passed through ICF Almaty over the years. And we have several books published in Russian and Kazakh which are in the hands of many leaders. We have been very blessed; there are many here we love.
But we do feel that we should accept this call to Beijing. There are more people living in that one city than in the entire nation of Kazakhstan! We would pastor people on the front lines of ministry in many areas. (As we are here, but the number is more than tripled in Beijing.) Also, we already have a number of friends there that would like us to teach leaders of the rapidly growing church there. Our job description of preaching and teaching would remain unchanged, just with a wider influence. Another issue is Mark will be able to have the necessary cancer follow-up tests he needs for the next couple years right there in Beijing.
The letter below details how their current pastor (a long time friend of ours who is returning to the States for a season) sees our potential role.
Obviously, we would very much like to be blessed with your support, as God leads and provides. We will not receive a salary from BICF, but live by mission support. We will continue to serve through Pioneers. We also want to release you with much love and appreciation if you feel that this is not the kind of work you are led to support. If the Lord is indeed guiding us to Beijing, we trust He will provide. We look forward to hearing from you!
We also realize that perhaps you may no longer wish to receive our news. If that is the case please click reply and simply write DELETE on the subject line. We understand.
In Him whose Advent is our Hope! Mark and Dayna Blair
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International Christian Fellowship www.icf.nursat.kz
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Blair – Almaty 43 – P.O. Box 13 – Kazakhstan 050043
The letter from the pastor of BICF…..
Dear Mark & Dayna,
We are very excited about the possibility of you coming to Beijing. Last summer when I began to think about us leaving BJ, wondering who could take over at ZGC, your name was the 1st on my list.
In inviting you to move to Beijing and to be the church leader at BICF ZGC we could see many good fits between our church and your experience and gifting. You have experience in international churches and that’s truly what we are. We have students, teachers, and business people from around 50 different countries regularly attending. Last month we had a “New Women’s Night” and there were 60+ who attended representing 33 different countries. Being international we have great diversity, both ethnically and in denominational background. I believe it takes someone who has worked in this type of environment to appreciate the differences and see it as part of God’s great creativity. When we experience unity as a group fully committed to Christ’s lordship it makes a great statement to the world. We feel your experience while leading other international fellowships will be invaluable.
I’m also excited because of your Central Asian and African experience. Your years in Africa will be a blessing to our congregation. We have many Africans in the church. Although I don’t know the country count, but I’m guessing we have Africans from 15 or more countries. Some of our strong leaders are African students. As a matter of fact we plan to begin a monthly African service in January. Your Central Asian experience will challenge our congregation to think about the Moslems to our west, both within and outside of China. We have a few Central Asians in the congregation, but there are many more who are studying in nearby universities.
Mark, we have a fairly young church, both in age and in the congregation and our target population. Our campus of the BICF is 4 years old. We have a congregation that varies in size from 300-700, depending on the time of the year. We don’t have our own building but have found a stable home for the past 3 years in an IT Office building in the middle of China’s Silicon Valley. Intel, AMD, and many other top IT companies have offices in our building. Surrounding us are some of China’s top “think tanks”, associated with China’s “Academy of Sciences”. Within 10 minutes of our location are China’s Harvard and MIT (Beijing University and Qinghua University). We have close to 50 universities on our side of Beijing that attract many of China’s elite students. We also have close to 40,000 foreign students in the area. These students come from almost every country in the world. Our part of Beijing is also where many returning Chinese land back in China after living and studying abroad. Many have become Christians and some are finding their way to our church. We feel God has planted us right in the middle of our target audiences.
Finally Mark, when we thought about who would come in as pastor we wanted someone with a missions background. Over 20% of our congregation has come to Asia as ministry workers. We know you will be able to relate to this group and help encourage them in their work. We feel your pastoral and teaching skills will greatly encourage them in their work and help extent their time in Asia. While the government still restricts local Chinese from coming to our church, many within our fellowship are ministering directly and effectively to this group.
Beijing is a changing place. It has become a global city and we believe that the BICF has been strategically positioned by God to have a world-wide ministry from Beijing. We’re very excited about the possibility of you joining us in 2009. We will continue to pray with you as we seek His guidance.
